The transition of teenage girls and young women from ex-combatants to civilian life: a case study in Sri Lanka

This paper describes the lives of young, female former Tamil Tiger fighters, in Batticaloa, after the civil war in Sri Lanka. It shows how the kinship and solidarity found in female networks, in a matri-lineal society, has helped them survive the conflict. In Batticaloa, female-headed households bear the main burden for caring for the traumatised, and sometimes injured, returning female, former soldiers. This is done in the absence of social welfare services or specific medical or psychosocial care.

Read more

Mental health training of primary health care workers: case reports from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Jordan

Evidence suggests that providing support to primary health care with training, assistance and supervision by available mental health professionals is the best way to extend mental health care to the population. Three cases of mental health training programmes for primary health care workers were implemented in different countries, and are described in this article. The objective was to share the lessons learnt in different settings. Relevant primary and secondary data were used to present the cases.

Read more

Building meaningful participation in reintegration among war-affected young mothers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and northern Uganda

When young mothers, formerly associated with armed groups, return to communities, they are typically social isolated, stigmatised, and marginalised. This creates reintegration challenges for themselves, and their communities. Their children face child protection problems such as neglect, rejection and abuse. In this paper, the authors describe an innovative field practice - community based,participatory action research (PAR) - that meaningfully involved formerly associated young mothers, and other vulnerable young mothers, in their communities.

Read more

Spirituality and psychosocial work in emergencies: four commentaries and a response

The commentaries on the next few pages relate to the article ‘Spirituality and mental health in humanitarian contexts: an exploration based on World Vision’s Haiti earthquake response’ by Alison Schafer on page 121-130 of issue 8.2 of Intervention (2010). The author uses the experiences in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake to substantiate her argument that nongovernmental organisations do not have a clear set of interventions to address the spiritual needs of an affected population, in conjunction with their mental health and psychosocial support needs.

Read more

Overcoming social/cultural practices and beliefs in setting up a community mental health programme in a complex emergency: reflections arising from the work done by TPO in Somalia

Since the collapse of the central government of Somalia in 1991, large parts of the country have been in turmoil. Fighting, poverty, hunger and gender based violence have all contributed to high levels of mental and psychosocial problems. Excessive consumption of khat may also be a major contributor to mental health problems, specifically in men. In Somalia, few services respond to the needs of people with mental health problems.

Read more

'The Gaza Diamond': drawings and wishes of Palestinian teenagers

In this study, the body of drawings and written wishes chosen from a drawing contest for Palestinian schoolchildren, provided data revealing a world of hopes, wishes and desires of Palestinian teenagers. Irrespective of the measure of regional exposure to the violent conflict, the political situation figures prominently in their wishes. Peace and statehood are dominant themes.

Read more

Agape: a reconciliation initiative by members of civil society and former child-soldiers

‘Agape’ is a reconciliation project among victims of the armed conflict in Colombia and child-soldiers who, legally, are also victims of the armed conflict. The project was realised fully by volunteers, who are kidnap victims, refugees, students and other members of the Colombian community in Montreal, Canada.

Read more

Community beliefs and fears during a cholera outbreak in Haiti

In October 2010, an outbreak of cholera was confirmed in Haiti. The country had not seen cholera for many decades, so it was a ‘new’ disease to the population. The outbreak of cholera also leads to high levels of fear and suspicion due to beliefs and perceptions. This field report presents some of those beliefs and perceptions around the outbreak, in four Haitian communities.

Read more

Defining mental health and psychosocial in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines: constructive criticisms from psychiatry and anthropology

The development of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines heralded an international achievement by gathering mental health and psychosocial professionals to evolve common minimum responses during emergencies. However, one continuing contentious issue has been the definitions of mental health and psychosocial support. The absence of these formal and agreed definitions may well interfere with coordinating minimum responses.

Read more

Fighting for a future: the potential for posttraumatic growth among youths formerly associated with armed forces in Northern Uganda

This article presents the potential of posttraumatic growth (PTG) among youths formerly associated with the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda. Through investigating life narratives of 12 such youths, this study aims to discover the potential of PTG as a consequence ofa forced time period with the LRA. By means of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) the narratives revealed four themes: social support; participation; self perception, and faith in God. These four themes are found to resemblefour of the five factors measuring PTG.

Read more

Pages